title: Consumer perspectives and mental health reform movements in the United States: 30 years of first-person accounts.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The present qualitative study examined 69 published first-person accounts written by adults diagnosed with schizophrenia from 1979-2010 within the historical context of the four major mental health movements in the United States.
  
  
  METHODS
  Content analysis techniques were used to identify major topics and overarching content categories in the first-person accounts written over the 30-year period. The frequency of topics in each content category was examined as a function of the decade and corresponding mental health movement in which accounts were published.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Five overarching content categories emerged reflecting authors' conceptualizations of schizophrenia, their experiences with psychiatric hospitalization, medications, coping with social stigma, and achieving and maintaining valued social roles. Two summary categories emerged reflecting authors explicit views about what helped and what did not help in their experience of living with schizophrenia. With the exception of social stigma, frequency of topics within content categories did not change as a function of decade and corresponding mental health movement.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite changes in mental health policies, treatment, and systems of care, the overall lack of significant differences in the content of first-person accounts across the 30-year period suggests an enduring nature to the experiences of individuals coping with schizophrenia. Implications of present findings for research and practice are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine.
authors.forename: Shinakee
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gumber
authors.forename: Catherine H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Stein
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D017281:Cost of Illness; D018166:Health Care Reform / Q000639:trends*; D006291:Health Policy / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000639:trends*; D010506:Periodicals as Topic; D063545:Personal Narratives as Topic; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000534:rehabilitation / Q000628:therapy*; D057545:Social Stigma; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology; D014481:United States